Qi Xia had been sitting in his seat the entire time, neither standing up nor searching for clues.
He felt something was still a bit off.
Another person who hadn’t stood up was the psychological counselor, Lin Qin.
“What are you thinking about?” Lin Qin asked casually, covering his mouth and nose.
“Me?” Qi Xia was startled. “What? Are you going to give me a psychological diagnosis?”
“Not quite. Although people as clever as you tend to have some psychological issues to varying degrees, our current situation really isn’t suitable for psychotherapy.” Lin Qin smiled faintly. “I just wanted to ask what you’re thinking about.”
Qi Xia pondered for a moment before saying, “I’m thinking about the reason.”
“The reason?”
Qi Xia ignored Lin Qin and instead called out to Doctor Zhao, asking, “Doctor, generally speaking, if someone is shot in the heart, how long can they survive?”
Doctor Zhao turned around and thought for a moment before saying, “If I remember correctly, when the heart is hit by a bullet, a person will enter an unconscious state within a few seconds. However, since medical ‘death’ refers to ‘brain death,’ even when unconscious, the brain will continue working for several more minutes.”
Qi Xia nodded. “That Goat Head just now screamed for several minutes, which means his body structure is much more resilient than an ordinary human’s, right?”
“Yes. With his heart shot, it took him several full minutes to completely lose consciousness.”
Hearing Qi Xia and the doctor’s conversation, everyone else quieted down.
Earlier, it was precisely because of this con man’s clear thinking that all nine people had managed to survive.
“So why do you think that is?” Qi Xia extended his index finger and thumb, forming the shape of a gun and placing it against his temple. “Normal people would choose to commit suicide like this.”
After thinking for a moment, he moved his hand to point upward from beneath his chin. “Or like this.”
Qi Xia lowered his hand and pointed at his own heart.
“Either way… someone committing suicide would choose a method that causes them as little suffering as possible. So why would he aim at his own heart?”
Qiao Jiajin was playing with the goat head mask in his hands, then turned over the man’s head and said, “Maybe this sausage-brain was harder, and one shot couldn’t kill him lah.”
“Since he vomited blood, that proves his body structure is the same as ours,” Officer Li said. “No matter how strong he was, at this distance, a shot to the skull would definitely kill him.”
Qi Xia nodded. “In that case, I can only think of one reason.”
He pointed at the mask in Qiao Jiajin’s hands and said, “The reason Goat Head chose to shoot his own heart was most likely to protect something. The ‘game’ is probably not over yet.”
Qiao Jiajin froze. “You’re saying… he was afraid of damaging his mask?”
“Exactly.”
Under Qi Xia’s direction, Qiao Jiajin turned the goatskin mask over, exposing the rough sheepskin lining to everyone’s view.
A rotten, sour smell also emanated from it.
Just as Qi Xia had predicted, the inside of the sheepskin mask had writing on it in black pen.
However, some parts were stained with blood. Qiao Jiajin didn’t care and grabbed his T-shirt to wipe it clean. Finally, the writing became legible.
“What the hell?” Qiao Jiajin was stunned for a moment, then began reading the words aloud in his non-standard Mandarin:
“I am ‘Man-Dog.'”
“You have been cursed.”
“I hope you survive.”
“The clock never stops, danger lurks on all sides.”
“If you want to survive, turn toward your homeland one hundred times.”
“By the way, they say bamboo shoots grow after rain—why aren’t bamboo shoots afraid of being struck by rain?”
“See you after the rain.”
Qi Xia furrowed his brow slightly. As expected, these were hints for the next game…
The shadow of death looming over everyone still wouldn’t dissipate.
They had already died—did they have to die again?
“Hey, con man, what does this mean?” Qiao Jiajin asked.
“How should I know?” Qi Xia snorted coldly. “There are nine people here. Do I have to be the one to figure everything out?”
Lawyer Zhang Chenze slowly sat down in a chair and said, “Although I don’t want to admit it, your way of thinking aligns very closely with the ‘organizer’s.’ If you have any ideas, you should speak up.”
“I…”
Before Qi Xia could speak, the surrounding walls suddenly began to change.
To everyone’s shock, holes began appearing out of nowhere.
The walls that had originally been made of cement now seemed like constantly shifting soft bodies.
After a moment, rows of holes were neatly arranged on the walls, as if they had always been there.
At the same moment, the sound of chains being pulled echoed from all four sides.
“What’s happening?” Everyone panicked instantly.
“Look at the ceiling!” someone cried out in alarm.